Girl Guides Australia (1926 - )

The first meeting of the Girl Guides Association of Australia Incorporated was held in Melbourne in 1926. The formation of this national body came over a decade after the first guides group was formed in Tasmania, the Girl Peace Scouts. Other states quickly followed and by the time a national body was established, all states in Australia had guides groups.

The Association celebrated their seventy-fifth birthday in 1985 and at that time had approximately 100,000 members.

• Girl Guides Association of Australia Incorporated

Some of these groups were later disbanded with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, but many reformed and were then officially registered as branches of the British association. In the early days these separate groups did not know of each other's existence, because of our great distances and the scarcity of detailed records. Few of these were kept because the pioneers of Guiding did not realise the significance of what they were establishing, nor what a vast movement it would become.

Eventually each state became organised, setting up a headquarters, forming a state executive and appointing a state commissioner. Tasmania was first in 1911 followed by South Australia in 1913, Western Australia in 1915, Queensland in 1919, New South Wales in 1920 and Victoria in 1921.

In 2004, Guides Australia described its mission as: 'Helping girls and young women grow into confident, self-respecting, responsible community member.'

All Australian Guides, youth and adults, make the same Promise, use the same Laws, and wear the same badge. (The words on the badge say Guides Australia)

Guide Promise
I promise that I will do my best,
to do my duty to God,
to serve the Queen and my Country,
to help other people and to keep the Guide Law.
The Guide Laws

A Guide is loyal and can be trusted

A Guide is helpful

A Guide is polite and considerate

A Guide is friendly and a sister to all Guides

A Guide is kind to animals and respects all living things

A Guide is obedient

A Guides has courage and is cheerful in all difficulties

A Guide makes good use of her time

A Guide takes care of her own possessions and those of other people

A Guide is self-controlled in all she thinks says and does

Commissioner

• Berry, Alice Miriam (1900 - 1978)
• Curtis-Otter, Margaret Catherine (1910 - 1992)
• Daley, Henrietta (Jessie) Shaw (1890 - 1943)
• Douglas, Mary Stewart (May) (1904 - 1999)
• Hawthorn, Dorothy (1901 - )
• Manning, Eleanor (1906 - 1986)
• McIntyre, Margaret Edgeworth (1886 - 1948)
• Somers, Lady Finola (1896 - 1981)

Member

• Adams, Lorna Esme (1920 - 2003)
• Bolte, Edith Lilian (Jill) (1906 - 1986)
• Brookes, Mabel Balcombe (1890 - 1975)
• Buscombe, Nina Dorothea Kestell (1919 - 2003)
• Carlton, Eileen Grace (Sally)
• Christian, Margaret Enid (Peg) (1920 - )
• Coles, Mabel Irene (1906 - 1993)
• Crone, Nina (1934 - )
• Darling, Honor Brinsley (1918 - 2000)
• Dowson, Dorothy (Joan) (1918 - 2006)
• Haselgrove, Elsie (1903 - )
• McCarthy, Gwendoline (Gwen) (1901 - 1986)
• Rankin, Annabelle Jane Mary (1908 - 1986)
• Sandford-Morgan, Elma (1890 - 1983)
• Whitworth, Joyce Ethel (1911 - 1998)

President

• Deakin, Elizabeth Martha Anne (Pattie) (1863 - 1934)

Secretary

• Bush, Muriel Evelyn (Merle E) (1897 - 1981)
• Irving, Sybil Howy (1897 - 1973)

Staff Member

• Parker, Marjorie Alice Collett ( - 1991)

Vice President

• Cutler, Helen Gray Annetta (1923 - 1990)
• Price, Joyce Ethel (1915 - )

Books

• Bagster, Mary, Mrs Sylvia Ringrose, O.B.E., State Commissioner, 1955-1960: A movement with a purpose, Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia), Herston, 1992, 22 pp. [ Details... ]
• Clark, Helen and Alan Clark, Guiding in Nowra, the First 60 Years, Girl Guides Australia, Nowra, 1985, 24 pp. [ Details... ]
• Coleman, Margaret & Honor Darling, From a Flicker to a Flame: The story of the Girl Guides in Australia, Girl Guides of Australia Incorporated, Sydney, 1989, 229 pp. [ Details... ]
• Coleman, Margaret and Honor Darling, Blue and gold, the story told: A brief history of the Girl Guides Association in Australia, Girl Guides Association of Australia, Sydney, 1986, 49 pp. [ Details... ]
• Holland, Mavis, Mrs Honour Burcher, M.B.E., State Commissioner, 1960-1965 :the challenging sixties /researched by Margaret Sycamore ; compiled by Mavis Holland., Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia), Herston, 1992, 23 pp. [ Details... ]
• Lowrie, Jessie, Memories of guiding and scouting days: Northampton & elsewhere, J. Lowrie, Geraldton, 1995, 128 pp. [ Details... ]
• Milesi, A. J., Index [to] Guiding in W.A., Paterson Brokensha, Perth, 1963?, 20 pp. [ Details... ]
• Miller, Joy, Promises Made & Promises Kept: A History of Guiding in Western Australia, Guides Western Australia,, Perth, 2000, 122 pp. [ Details... ]
• Quartermaine, Mavis, Goldfields Girl Guides: A history of the movement in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder district, Eastern Goldfields Historical Society, Kalgoorlie, 1989, 60 pp. [ Details... ]
• Quartermaine, Mavis, Guiding on the Goldfields: A history of the movement in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder district, Guides Western Australia, Goldfields Region, Kalgoorlie, 1997, 51 pp. [ Details... ]
• Swinburne, G.H., Among the first people, 1908-1936: The Baden-Powell Girl Guide Movement in Australia, Girl Guides Association of Australia, Sydney, 1978, 72 pp. [ Details... ]
• Torney, Wilma, Mrs Mary Moore, M.B.E., State Commissioner, 1971-1976 :the progressive seventies /researched by Margaret Sycamore ; compiled by Wilma Torney. Publication Details [Herston, Qld.] :Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia),1992., Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia), Herston, 1992, 22 pp. [ Details... ]
• Warneke, Nola, Mrs Janette Gibson, A.M., State Commissioner, 1981-1986 :building for the future /researched by Jean Percy ; compiled by Nola Warneke., Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia), Herston, 1992. [ Details... ]
• Warneke, Nola, Mrs Joan Guthrie, State Commissioner, 1965-1970 :the challenging sixties /researched by Margaret Sycamore ; compiled by Nola Warneke., Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia), Herston, 1992, 27 pp. [ Details... ]
• Williams, Meta, Mrs Lilian Gresham, M.B.E., State Commissioner, 1945-1954 :the post-war reconstruction era /researched by Meta Williams ; compiled by Meta Williams., Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia), Herston, 1992, 63 pp. [ Details... ]
• Williams, Meta, Mrs Joie Dwyer, State Commissioner, 1986-1991 :challenge and achievement /researched by Meta Williams ; compiled by Meta Williams., Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia), Herston, 1992, 33 pp. [ Details... ]
• Williams, Meta (researched and compiled by), Mrs Meta Williams, OBE, State Commissioner, 1976-1981: the progressive seventies, Girl Guides Association (Queensland, Australia), [Herston, Qld], 1992, 55 pp. [ Details... ]
• Wilson, Winifred, Guiding in W.A., Paterson Brokensha, Perth, [1963?], 128 pp. [ Details... ]

Booklets

• Leach, Sheila A., A history of guiding in the Geraldton area, 1917-1986, 1986, 12 pp. [ Details... ]

Edited Books

• Gough, K.R. and G. Beal (eds), A story of scouting in Western Australia, 1908-1930: With a short account of guiding in the same period, Paterson's Printing Press, Perth, 1931, 32 pp. [ Details... ]

Magazines

• The State magazine for Girl Guides of South Australia, Girl Guides Association of South Australia, Adelaide, 1924. [ Details... ]
• The South Australian Girl Guide Magazine, Girl Guides Association of South Australia, Adelaide, 1926-?. [ Details... ]
• The Waratah: The official magazine of the Girl Guides Association (New South Wales), Girl Guides Association (New South Wales), Sydney, 1926?-1980. [ Details... ]
• Adventuring: Official organ of the Girl Guides Association of South Australia, The Association, 1939-1979. [ Details... ]

Newsletters

• Matilda: An official treasure bag of guiders' information for Guiders of Victoria, Australia, Girl Guides Association, Victoria, Melbourne, 1923-. [ Details... ]
• The Scout & Guide Courier, Boy Scouts Association, W.A. Section [in association with] Girl Guides Association, W.A. Section., Perth, 1931-1938. [ Details... ]
• Guiding in Australia/Gia: Guiding in Australia, The Association, Sydney, 1980-1994. [ Details... ]
• Guide lines / Girl Guide Association, Western Australia, Sylvia Perry Divisio, The Division, Geraldton, 1983-. [ Details... ]
• Focus on Guiding / Girl Guides, Girl Guides Association of Western Australia, Perth, 1991-. [ Details... ]

Newspapers

• The Woozle: The South Australian Girl Guides' own newspaper, Girl Guides Association of South Australia, Adelaide, 1929-1932. [ Details... ]

Reports

• Girl Guides Association of Australia, Annual Report, 1965-. [ Details... ]
• Girl Guides Association of South Australia. Thrift Campaign., Annual report and balance sheet / Girl Guides Thrift Campaign, Girl Guides Association, Adelaide, 1939-1945. [ Details... ]
• Girl Guides Association of Western Australia/Guides Western Australia Inc., Annual Report, 1936-. [ Details... ]
• The Girl Guides Association South Australia/Guides South Australia., Annual Report, 1923-. [ Details... ]

See also

• Guides Victoria (ed.), Communicating, Guides Victoria, 1996. [ Details... ]